In an interview with Complex, Louisiana lyricist Lil Wayne explained how a rock band inspired him to take his music career seriously. Wayne (real name Dwayne Carter) has released multiple rock-rap tracks. However, it was unclear where he got his influence from.
Revealing his love began at a young age, the ‘A Milli’ musician explained how there was one act that he ended up enjoying because he saw their music videos on television and heard their songs so often that it eventually grew on him. In fact, unveiled he gained respect for the group because they created one of the few rock songs he could enjoy.
Elaborating on his early musical journey, Carter explained, “When I was young, there was a show called The Box, and you used to call the station and order a video. And the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video would always be on. You had no choice but to get into it.”
He continued, “I was young, and I actually listened to the lyrics, I probably felt at that time, I was rebelling, and I can associate myself with that. [I could] relate to the things [Kurt Cobain] was talking about in the songs. I probably couldn’t, but I thought I could. It made me want to rebel musically too!”
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit is an extraordinarily famous and popular rock song by the Seattle band Nirvana and has been the grunge genre’s pride and joy since its release in 1991. In 2012, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s 1992 album Nevermind, Carter photoshopped his face onto the infamous and contentious cover.
The New Orleans artist has paid a significant amount of homage to the grunge subgenre and has even made albums such as Rebirth in an attempt to marry it with hip-hop. Many fans despised Carter’s rock phase and insisted that the songs he released during that period were some of his worst.
However, it is impossible to deny his passion for Nirvana and rock overall. You hear ‘It Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in the video below.
